Lithium-ion Forklift Batteries

The most common type of forklift battery is a lead acid battery, which is also called a wet cell battery. The main advantage of lead acid batteries is their price compared to other types of batteries. The lead acid battery also has several negative aspects. First, wet cell batteries need to be maintained regularly to keep the performance; as a result, a special watering system needs to be equipped and there is a trained person for this activity. Second, the long charging time is the biggest negative aspect of lead-acid batteries, typically 8 hours. This leads to the need for more space for meeting charging needs.

With correct maintenance and charging procedures, most Wet Cell batteries will last up to five years or 1,500 charging cycles.

A gel cell battery is similar to a lead acid battery, but silica is added to create a gel electrolyte mixture. A special watering system is not required because the gel cell battery is sealed. This means less maintenance than lead acid batteries. The disadvantage of a gel cell battery is the slow charging, and you cannot leave it for free charging, because the gel electrolyte will be destroyed if you leave it charging after charging is completed.

Absorbed Glass Mat (AGM) is a special glass mat for passing electrolytes between battery plates, which is another type of sealed lead acid battery. The construction of AMG batteries allows working without any watering maintenance like wet cell batteries. The main negative aspect of the AGM battery is the low cycle life. The cycle of life and performance of AMG batteries can be harmed by each charge. It is recommended to charge the battery when discharge is only above 50%, the expected cycle life is around 1300cycles.

Smart LFT lithium-ion battery has multiple benefits in comparison to other types of forklift batteries. They are maintenance-free.Therefore a special watering system is not required. As well as the fast-charging performance is the main advantage, only 2-3hours to fully charge batteries. Additionally, the deep charging or discharging will not harm the cycle life of the batteries because of no memory characteristic of lithium-ion batteries. The most important advantage of lithium-ion batteries is to increase the cycle life up to reach 3000cycles.